The Truth
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: I have wondered, since Rise of Skywalker, if Rey would ever tell her friends about being Palpatine's granddaughter or about being in love with Ben and their Force Bond/Dyad. So I decided to write this, in which Rey tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This story involves some sequences that were going to be during In My Dreams, but were cut for time. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Coming Clean

**Chapter 1: Coming Clean**

Rey Skywalker opened up the cabinet and gathered some cups and plates. Shutting the door, she took a deep breath. There was no point in beating around the bush anymore. She must say what she needed to say, if for no other reason than for closure. To finally put the war to rest. Behind her, she felt a Force essence brush up against hers in concern, and she quickly moved to block her thoughts. She could only let the truth out when the time was right for her, and she must speak it.

"What is it? Are you all right?"

Rey turned around and smiled weakly, tenderly at her best friend, Finn. Ever since he had told her that he was Force sensitive, she had known that keeping secrets from him would be infinitely more difficult from now on - hence the reason she had decided to bump up her tell-all session on the calendar.

"Yes. I'm... I'm glad you're here. And Poe, too."

Finn scanned his eyes around the abode. "It's a nice place you got here." He chuckled. "At the very least, it isn't in the desert. I thought you were never gonna leave Tatooine."

Rey giggled. "Naboo is very nice. The Queen has been so incredibly kind to me, putting me up here." The happiness in her face receded way too quickly, and Finn noticed, but before he could ask again about her well-being, she took his hand. "Shall we fetch Poe? I need to talk to you - both of you."

The pair of friends walked down the hall to a little corner office, where Poe had shut himself up since arriving early that morning. The door was ajar, and through the crack, Finn and Rey could see the Co-General commandeering Rey's desk, perusing a file with reading glasses pushed down to the bridge of his nose.

Finn rapped his knuckle on the wood purposefully. "Enter," Poe clipped without looking up.

Rey bustled in, a forced smile on her face. "Enough, enough, enough! Come on, have some drinks with us."

Poe smiled wanly as he set his files aside. "I'm sorry to be bringing work with me on vacation, Rey, but this couldn't wait."

"It can wait for one night," Rey chided, holding out her hands to him. "Now, come on!"

She guided the men back into the spacious kitchen. Pouring the drinks freely, she tried not to let her hands shake. Behind her, she could hear Finn whispering to his colleague, "She said she needs to talk to us..."

Turning back around, Rey smiled yet again, the expression still so fake it was making her dimples hurt. Passing around the cups, she clutched her own tightly and took a seat, exhaling deeply. At last, she raised her eyes to Finn:

"Finny? Do you remember your family - your real family?"

Frowning in bemusement, Finn answered, "Hardly anything at all, really. I was taken into the Stormtrooper Corps when I was very young."

"What _do_ you remember?"

He shrugged. "Just... images, really. Feelings."

"Tell me."

Finn rubbed his temple persistently as he tried to bring those extremely faint memories back. "My mother was very doting... We lived on... a farm. There were really tall grasses..." His voice trailed off. "Why are you asking me this?"

"I have very few memories of my parents," Rey murmured. "I barely knew them. I was in Unkar Plutt's care by the time I was six years old."

"But you remember your parents?" Finn persisted.

Rey sighed and stood, beginning to pace. "Some memories are clearer now..." She spun to face the boys. "I have a story to tell you."

"Yeah?" Poe raised his mug to his lips. "What's it about?"

"Well... it's kind of about a scavenger. And kind of about a Sith. But mostly it's about the Emperor... Do you remember when we were on Pasaana, and we found Ochie's ship and the Sith dagger?"

Poe and Finn nodded.

"That ship was the same one I remember leaving me on Jakku when I was a little girl. My parents did sell me to Unkar Plutt, but to protect me. Hide me."

"Hide you from who?" Finn demanded.

"I'm getting to that. Some time later, Ochie found my parents and his stolen ship and demanded to know where I was. When they wouldn't give me up, he killed them... with this." Pulling the Sith dagger out of a drawer, she held it up. Poe's face shattered.

"Oh, Rey..."

"There's more. It won't be easy for you to hear it, but you must. Ochie had to have my parents killed, almost as much as he wanted me dead, because he was ordered to do so. My parents and I... though we lived a simple life, we were still important, because of Darth Sidious."

"Whoa, whoa, back up - what does this have to do with Darth Sidious?" Finn asked.

Rey gazed at Finn sadly. "He's my grandfather."

Finn's entire expression churned. "Your _grandfather_?" The idea of Rey being related in any way to the Emperor was horrific.

Rey nodded. "He feared my power, and wanted me eliminated. My father was Palpatine's son, and didn't want to have anything to do with him, or for me to fall into his clutches. So he hid us away."

"How did you find all this out? Was it a Force vision? When you touched the dagger?" Poe wanted to know.

Rey shook her head. Now came the hardest part. "Do you remember when we were on that First Order flagship rescuing Chewie? You guys swooped in on the _Falcon_ to rescue me?"

Again, Finn and Poe nodded.

"Well... right before that, Kylo Ren told me the truth about my parents."

"But why should you believe him?" Finn leapt out of his seat. "He wanted nothing but to see you harmed!"

Rey stared at Finn heartbreakingly. "Why? Because... he was my lover. My husband."

Dead silence. Finn and Poe were gaping at Rey in horror. Somehow, Finn's dark skin was rapidly turning purple. "When the hell did this happen?" he spluttered.

Rey took a shuddering breath. "Over a year ago, when Kylo Ren captured me on Takodana, he interrogated me about BB8. As he did, I fought back with the Force, and the Force built a... connection between us. After I left for Luke on the island, we continued to see each other."

"Uh... how?" Poe inquired. His eyes were in that earliest stage of becoming glazed over, as if the story for him was becoming difficult to follow.

"A Force Bond," Rey explained. "They're extremely rare, but it allowed Kylo and I to see each other and speak across lightyears. Overtime, I got to see who he really was - Ben Solo. A scared, lonely boy who had been failed by nearly everyone around him."

"And what happened?" Finn demanded.

Rey's smile turned heartsick. "I fell in love. _We_ fell in love. And I loved Ben Solo enough that I thought I could save him. So I went to him aboard the _Supremacy_ to turn him back to the Light. His master, Snoke, tortured me, but Ben killed him to save me. But then, when I asked him to come away with me..." Her voice choked up, and she blinked back tears. "He couldn't do it. Kylo Ren still had a hold on him." Rey let out a shaky breath. "Leaving him on the _Supremacy_ was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Yet even after Crait, the Bond remained. We continued to see each other."

"For a whole _year_?" Poe gawped, his voice taking on a hard edge. "You kept all this from us? Even apparently your wedding?"

Rey shook her head. "There was never a wedding, in a classical sense. And most of the time we saw each other in that year, we traded a lot of hurt and anger. Nevertheless, the Force married us. And our Bond only continued to grow stronger, until it became something rarer still: a Force Dyad - a connection as strong and as intimate as life itself. Ben and I are two people who were one."

She continued: "Then, in those final 16 hours, Kylo Ren kept hunting me. But his motivations were Ben's - I believe he wanted me with him to save me from Palpatine. When I went to confront the Emperor on Exogol, Ben came back to the Light. He came to save me. He fought and killed the Knights of Ren for me, and the Emperor tried to drain our life forces, our Dyad, from us, to rejuvenate himself. Palpatine cast Ben into a pit, before torturing me until I... I died."

"I knew it!" Finn leapt to his feet, overturning his chair. "I felt you die in the Force..."

"Sssh! Don't interrupt," Poe snapped.

"Well," Rey went on. "Ben must have climbed out of the pit, because suddenly, I woke up, and... I was there. In his arms." At this, her expression turned positively lovesick, dreamy. "I kissed him... and he kissed me back. He held me so tightly, and then..." The tears flowed freely and she broke down. "He died! He... he gave his life force to bring me back! Why did he have to die?"

For a long time, there was silence, broken only by Rey's cries. She buried her face in her hands and wept. The sobs she let out were shuddering, and absolutely anguished. Poe and Finn were standing, staring at her with their mouths open in disbelief. The entire tale sounded so absurd. And yet...

Rey's sobs soon died down into sniffles. "Sometimes, I... I want to die too."

"Don't you say that!" Finn's voice sounded pained, strangled.

"That doesn't make it a-any less true!" Rey blubbered. "I'm here, alone, on this beautiful planet. B-but nothing is beautiful without my Ben!" She began crying harder anew.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Poe rushed to answer it, finding his girlfriend, Zorri Bliss, standing on the stoop, mask off.

"Hey."

"Hi."

The couple kissed lightly, Rey looking on with a trace of envy. And Zorri noticed.

"What are you staring at, Jedi?" the bounty hunter bristled. "You ogling my man?" Zorri looked like she would whip out her blasters and start shooting depending on how Rey answered.

Despite her red eyes, Rey glowered. "Of course not! Frankly, Zorri, your boyfriend is not my type."

Poe frowned. "Gee, thanks." Zorri whacked him on the arm.

"Excuse me," Rey got out in a squeak before fleeing to the front stoop outside. Zorri watched her go, still scowling. She relaxed only slightly when Poe touched her arm.

"Honey, don't take it so hard with Rey. She's been through more than you know. Why not patch things up a bit, huh? It's the least you can do."

"But I came to be with you..." Zorri whined.

"And we'll have plenty of time for that. Just do this? For me?"

Zorri sighed. She and Rey had never gotten along, ever since Kijimi. But for Poe... "Oh, all right. But I don't know what good it'll do. What's up with her?"

Poe draped his arm around her. "Well, it's like this, see..."


	2. Chapter 2: Reconciliation

**Chapter 2: Reconciliation **

Poe let Finn into Rey's office for a chat after his girlfriend slipped outside to talk with Rey. For a time, the two Generals could only stand there, lost in their thoughts, as they tried to absorb all they had just heard.

The revelation that their best friend was the granddaughter of the Emperor, both Poe and Finn dwelled on surprisingly very little. Certainly, she was powerful in the Force, so it seemed like a good explanation for her prowess. What stuck in both the pilot's and ex-Stormtrooper's craw was the fact that apparently she had been romantically involved in a passionate love affair with Kylo Ren. Particularly irksome was how she was coping with his death - which, to their mind, Rey was not doing very well at all.

"How could this happen?" Finn almost whispered. "What has... Ben done to her? If this is what the Force wanted..."

Poe cut him off. "How do you know what the Force wants? Until a couple weeks ago, you didn't even know what it was! For now, we take care of Rey and look after her. And eventually, maybe she'll get over it."

"Poe, you don't just get over something like this!" Finn cried. "If what she says is true, she just lost the love of her life! How do you think you would feel, if you lost Zorri?"

Poe visibly quaked. "I don't want to think about it..." He took in a breath. "But Rey is strong. Maybe... maybe she'll find someone else." He sent Finn an oddly pointed look as he said this and the Stormtrooper averted his gaze.

"You know?"

"Well, you haven't exactly been subtle about it - _that's_ for damn sure."

Finn was now staring resolutely at the floor. "She doesn't feel the same," he murmured brokenly. "And how could she? How could I compete with that? With Ben? You saw how she looked out there! When she so much as said his name, it was like she was talking about a god!"

"Don't give up hope," Poe encouraged his friend. "She may not find peace about Ben - never mind feel anything new about you - in like, six days, but what about in six weeks? Or six months? Give it time, and just be a supportive friend for now." He sighed, and rounded the desk. "I'm gonna need a stiff drink. You want one?"

"Nah, I think I'll just stay here. Relax with my thoughts." Although how much relaxing he would do, Finn was doubtful. Poe patted his shoulder, and left.

For many long moments, Finn just stood there, playing back Rey's story in his mind. He had no doubt she was being honest - Rey was always good with her word. And thinking back to something she had said on Pasaana ("People keep telling me they know me. I'm afraid no one does..."), plenty of things were starting to make sense.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room plummeted many degrees, and Finn glanced up from where his boot had been making an impression in the carpet to the sound of a voice.

"What am I going to do with you?"

Finn raised his eyes and yelped in alarm, staggering backwards. A blue man was standing in front of the desk, his gaze piercing and penetrating.

"Who... who are you? How did you...?"

The intruder didn't answer, preferring instead to merely circle the darker-skinned man, glancing him up and down. Finn watched his every move warily but determinedly.

And as Finn observed him, the Force whispered into his ear, telling him who the intruder was.

"You're Ben Solo."

Ben nodded. "Your insight serves you well. That's quite unusual for a Stormtrooper." He stepped closer, peering at Finn, looking almost like a curious child. "You surprise me, FN-2187."

Finn set his jaw. "It's _Finn_."

Ben nodded deferentially. "Ah, yes. Or Finny, as I have heard my love refer to you. A pet name, I imagine." There was a light pause before Ben looked at him, and Finn was startled to find something very vulnerable, something... _human_ in his eyes. "How is she?"

Finn huffed. "Miserable without you. Seems to want to die too, even. She... she misses you."

The love, mixed with deep concern, on Ben's face was unmistakable. "Finn, I need you to do something for me. Take... take care of her. Make sure that she... doesn't do anything rash. If Rey dies, the Jedi die with her and that must not happen. She needs to have a reason to stay, and you are a pretty good reason. And if... something results from that," his expression appeared pained, but he got the words out. "I will support whatever decision she makes."

Finn nodded. "I'll do my best." Never, in all his life, did he imagine he would be taking orders from Kylo Ren, or his alternate persona, again.

And here, Ben actually smiled. "Thank you." He turned away, then glanced back. "Oh, and Finn?"

Finn turned to him.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that you were enslaved as a Stormtrooper. Using Stormtroopers was not my idea - I would have preferred clones, but Snoke and Hux overruled me. Still, I did nothing to do away with troopers after becoming Supreme Leader, so I still shoulder some of the blame. For any way that I have wronged you... I am sorry."

Finn nodded, but did not say anything to indicate an acceptance of the apology. Ben grinned, and then his Force Ghost faded away on the air.

* * *

Outside on the front steps, against a tiny stone balcony railing, Zorri and Rey were staring off into the Naboo night. The air was cool and crisp.

"Rey, I didn't mean to snap at you," Zorri was finding it surprisingly easy to apologize. Normally, an admittance that she was wrong was hard to come by. "Poe and I just got back together, and there are still some... trust issues to work out. I get jealous easily. But I had no idea what you are going through, and, despite how annoyed I can get with that goof of a man inside, I don't ever want to find out."

Rey glanced down to the stone, a single tear streaming down her cheek. "It's OK," she whispered. "Why don't we just let bygones be bygones and let it go? I know we don't get along well, but I want to try. I hope we can be friends."

Zorri nodded slowly. "I can go for that." A moment of silence, and then: "So... you really loved this guy, didn't you?"

Rey bobbed her head. "I did, Zorri. I still do." She bowed her head, letting out loud sniffles. "I wish... I wish..."

"What do you wish?" And Zorri's voice was amazingly gentle.

Rey gulped down a sob, her hand coming to rest on her belly. "I wish the Force would place Ben's baby inside me. If I can't have him, I'd at least like to have some piece of him to remember him by. I'd go through every pain, every agony of labor, just to have even a taste of Ben again."

Zorri stared. "Is that really what you wish for?" At Rey's nod, she sat back, pondering. "Huh... that's a funny thing to wish." A moment of silence and then: "It's certainly not something that I'd ever wish for."

"Why not?"

"Well, shocking as it sounds, I'm just not cut out to be a mother," Zorri quipped dryly. "I never want to have kids."

Rey studied her perceptively. "But Poe does."

Zorri huffed out a breath. "_Yes_. He doesn't understand. Kids are just something to love who then become something you can lose. Do I really want to hand my enemies leverage over me on a silver platter? Plus, being a bounty hunter... it's a hard life. Lots of time on the road."

"Maybe you and he should talk about this," Rey suggested. "Really talk. Maybe... you could work something out."

Zorri just stared at Rey with something resembling amusement. "You're really naive, you know that, Jedi?" At Rey's frown, the bounty hunter ruffled her hair. "And not that I care, but you're still OK."


	3. Chapter 3: Hope

**Chapter 3: Hope**

The next morning, Rey awoke in the large, four-poster bed that had once belonged to Padme Amidala. As she got freshened up and ready for her day, she could feel the Force swirling around her, keeping her grounded in her own essence and sense of self. Her Force signature was very distinct, just as she could feel Finn's own unique presence in the Force at the other end of the house.

All at once, Rey was compelled to rush to the bathroom and throw up. And that was when she felt it... a presence in the Force that she thought she might never sense again. Frowning, Rey's heart alighted, hardly daring to hope. _Ben_...?

No. It wasn't Ben, at least not completely. It was sort of like Ben. A part of Ben, and... a part of her. An entirely new presence in the Force, swirling and reaching and squirming...

Rey placed her hands instinctively on her belly.

A new presence squirming _inside_ her.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Rey stared up at the heavens, mouthing the grateful words: _Thank You_. Happily, giddy, she ran into the kitchen, where Zorri and the boys were fixing breakfast.

Seeing the mixed signals of her tears and her happy face, Finn rushed to her side. "Are you OK?"

Rey beamed. "Yes. The Force has decided to be kind to me. I am pregnant with Ben's child. My wish came true!" She saw Zorri actually, genuinely smile at her and the Jedi shakily smiled back.

"Can the Force actually do that?" Poe stared in disbelief.

Finn was gazing at Rey's stomach in deep concentration. Through the energy field, he could feel the new presence - part Rey and part Ben. "The Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural," he said slowly. "I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for the Force to impregnate a woman after the father has passed on."

"Unless..." Poe said slowly, glancing to Rey. "You and Ben actually had sex?"

At this, Rey flushed scarlet, smiling shyly. "No," she whispered. "Although I wish..."

Zorri held up a hand, laughing. "One wish at a time, Jedi! I'd also say be careful what you wish for, but, well... it's a little late for that!"

Rey giggled, then gasped as she realized: "There's just so much to do! I'll have to prepare an overnight bag, read up on labor - oh, and of course in the future, I'll have to think about sending the baby to school. Naboo has some fine academies, but they can be expensive..."

As she prattled on, Poe was quiet for a moment, his brow furrowed heavily. Finally, he dug into his pocket, pulled out a checkbook, and wrote several checks. He handed the last one he wrote on to Rey.

"Set up a bank account and put this in for savings. You want to make sure the little one gets the best education."

Rey's face fell in gratitude. She had always considered herself a proud person, taking care of herself and accepting few, if any, handouts. "Poe... no..."

"_Yes_," Poe said firmly. "That little baby deserves to have a good future ahead of it, no matter who it's father or grandfather or great-grandfather is! And besides... your kid might be the closest I ever get to having a child."

Rey and Zorri shared a knowing look. Finally, Rey accepted the check, grinning sweetly. "Oh, now I don't think that's true..."

Poe bundled up the other written checks. "And these..." he handed to Rey. "Are for pregnancy supplies."

Beaming, Rey tenderly pecked his cheek, noting in relief how Zorri seemed unbothered by it. "Thank you, my friend."

"I'll help you, too," Finn offered.

Her smile able to light up the sun, Rey also kissed his cheek. "I know you will, Finny."

For the first time in a long time, Rey felt hope.


End file.
